Joaquim Rodríguez sprints away to take his first Flèche Wallonne

Ardennes’ eternal second finally gets his win with a devastating attack on the Mur de Huy

Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha) has exorcised the demons of so many second places in the Ardennes Classics with an emphatic victory in la Flèche Wallonne. The Catalan sprung away from the rest of the favourites midway up the impossibly steep Mur de Huy, and opened up such a wide gap that the rest of the race favourites were unable to get back on terms before the top.

‘Purito’ was able to sit up and enjoy his victory as the climb eased off,and he crossed the line punching the air some four seconds clear of a three-way battle for second.

“This is the most beautiful of all my victories, the most incredible and most desired,” said Rodríguez at the finish. “I am a lover of the classics; I got so many beautiful places without ever winning.

“Today is the happiest day of my life.”

Behind Rodríguez, Michael Albasini (GreenEdge), who’d led the chase up much of the climb, managed to hold off the attentions of defending champion Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing); the Belgian champion beat former teammate Jelle Vanendert (Lotto-Belisol) for third.

“This may have looked easy, but it was not,” said Rodriguez on the margin of his victory. “Instead, I had to be very careful and very attentive. This is what happened on the Mur, but also throughout the day, where my teammates did a remarkable job.”

The battle between the favourites came only after the long break of the day - from Dirk Bellemakers (Landbouwkrediet-Euphony) and Anthony Roux (FDJ-BigMat), who escaped after 55km - had been neutralised. There had been a chasse patate from Sander Armée (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator) in the middle part of the 194km race, but a more dangerous counter move came with less than 30km to go, as Giovanni Visconti (Movistar) and Tom Jelte Slagter (Rabobank) managed to bridge across just before the duo was caught.

A late move came from Lars Petter Nordhaug (Team Sky) and Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda) on the penultimate climb of the Côte de Villers-le-Bouillet, but both were caught on the early slopes of the Mur as the battle between the favourites began.

Having finally taken a victory in one of the Ardennes Classics, Rodríguez naturally moved to the top of the list of favourites for the following Sunday's Liège-Bastogne-Liège, but the Catalan is keen to deflect the pressure.

“Now I can get ready for Liège-Bastogne-Liège with high motivations,” he said. “I don’t think this victory will change anything; I’m not the only favourite, there are a lot of strong riders with chances to win.

“Everything changed between the Amstel Gold Race to Flèche Wallonne,” he reasoned. “Everything can change on Sunday too; so we have to pay a lot of attention and work at our best if we want to take this legendary double.”

The rain comes down, and so do a number of riders

Heavy rain at the start saw a number of crashes hit the peloton, which saw Jure Kocjan (Team Type 1-Sanofi) and Jurgen Van De Walle (Lotto-Belisol) forced to abandon. Despite the conditions however, the pace was high, and none of the many attempts to escape the peloton was successful; the first hour of the race was completed at an average speed of 47kph.

Finally however, after 55km, Bellemakers managed to escape alone, with Roux - celebrating his 25th birthday - quickly managing to bridge across. Sjef De Wilde (Accent.jobs-Willems Verandas) left it a little too late however, and struggled to close the gap as the two leaders rode away.

As they crested the top of the Mur for the first time, after 70.5km, the leading pair was 2’25” ahead of De Wilde, who was another minute clear of the peloton. Shortly afterwards, the Belgian resigned himself to the fact that he was not going to make it across the gap and sat up.

After 80km the duo’s lead was up to 5’20”, but this was apparently not enough to deter Sander Armée (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator), who attacked the peloton and tried to make his way across.

At the 86.5km mark, as the two leaders arrived at the foot of the unclassified Côte de Pailhe, Armée was six minutes behind, with the peloton at 7’05”. The 26-year-old began gradually closing in on the lead however, but so was the peloton, as Katusha began the long chase. As they passed the 100km point, the lone chaser had cut the deficit to 3’50”, and Katusha - now joined by Lotto-Belisol - had closed the peloton to just 6’35’ back.

RadioShack-Nissan then came forward to join the chase, and the gap began to close even quicker. At the top of the Côte de Peu d’Eau, with 84km to go, Armée had closed the gap to 3’05”, while the peloton was at 5’28”. The Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator rider was determined in his chase, and continued to gain on Bellemakers and Roux.

Over the top of the Côte de Haut-Bois, with 78.5km to go, Armée had closed to within 2’52”, but the peloton had also closed, to within 4’20” of the leading duo. As much of the peloton stopped for a ‘comfort break’ it briefly slowed and, into the final 65km, Armée was 2’30” behind, with the peloton at 4’30”.

The chasse patate is chased down as the peloton springs into life

This was as good as it was going to get for the lone Belgian however, and over the top of the Cote de Groyenne, with 53km to go, the gap had widened to 2’45”. The peloton was still gaining on him however, and his chasse patate was all over on the Côte de Bousalle with 44km to go.

The peloton was just 2’45” behind the two leaders now, as Chris Horner pulled Andy Schleck (both RadioShack-Nissan) clear towards the top of the climb. Having launched his leader, Horner dropped back - just as Yury Trofimov (Katusha) joined him - and Schleck began to tow the Russian towards the leaders.

With 40km to go, Dmitriy Fofonov (Astana) bridged, and the three new chasers had closed the gap to 2’05”; the peloton was just twenty seconds behind them though, as they descended towards the second ascent of the Mur.

With both RadioShack-Nissan and Katusha now up the road, both teams obviously pulled away from the front of the peloton. Vacansoleil-DCM was the one to take over and pulled back the three counterattackers before they reached the foot of the Mur.

As Bellemakers and Roux began the climb they were just 1’20” ahead, but this was down to below a minute before they were halfway up. As they panted over the top their lead was just 38 seconds clear as Horner put in a small dig.

Once over the top the counterattacks began, and Giovanni Visconti (Movistar) managed to escape with Tom Jelte Slagter (Rabobank). Into the last twenty kilometres, the two counterattackers had closed the gap to the two leaders to just 15 seconds, with the peloton the same distance behind them.

After a brief spell of watery sunshine, the rain began to fall again.

The closing kilometres approach and the action begins

On the Côte d'Amay, with just over 15km to go, Visconti and Slagter made contact with Bellemakers and Roux. Lotto-Belisol was leading the peloton 15 seconds behind them, as Fränk Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan) punctured at the worst possible time.

Maxim Iglinskiy (Astana) tried to escape, but was quickly chased down. This pulled the peloton to within eight seconds of the four leaders however. Visconti jumped away with Slagter, as Bellemakers and Roux were caught; a number of riders began to bridge across the small gap, including Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol), and Oscar Freire and Dani Moreno (both Katusha), but the peloton was all together again with 12km to go.

As the rain began to fall harder, Vasil Kiryienka (Movistar) and Angel Vicioso (Katusha) escaped with 11km to go but, as they reached the early slopes of the Côte de Villers-le-Bouillet, Iglinsiy went past them to take the lead. Hesjedal led the rest across however, with a number of the favourites sending riders forward to mark the moves.

On the false flat close to the top, Hesjedal accelerated again, pulling Iglinskiy away, but Nordhaug - who’d come down in the incident with Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD) in the previous Sunday’s Amstel Gold Race - attacked over the top. Hesjedal chased up to the Norwegian, and over the top the two of them were ten seconds clear.

Katusha was leading the chase as they entered the final seven kilometres, and the descent back down to Huy, but the two strong riders up front were resisting.

With five kilometres to go they were still holding on to their ten second margin, managing to pull out an extra two seconds. The peloton was in full cry, but the descent, and the wet roads, were favouring the two fugitives.

The Mur approaches, but so does the peloton

Under the three kilometre banner, as the duo descended into Huy, their lead was still twelve seconds; as they hit the foot of the Mur it was up to thirteen.

Hesjedal was out of the saddle, his bike swinging from side to side, but Nordhaug edged past him. Just behind the peloton was gaining, with Albasini, Gilbert and Vanendert visible close to the front.

Hesjedal hung on for as long as possible, but the main contenders in the front of the peloton fought their way past him in the final half kilometre.

Almost as soon as the Canadian was caught, Rodriguez jumped away and nobody else seemed to react. Albasini was leading the rest, but the Catalan was powering up the climb, and was now several seconds clear.

Gilbert and Vanendert were chasing hard with Albasini, but Rodríguez had pulled out such an enormous gap that he was able to sit up and enjoy his victory a long way before he hit the line. The three chasers arrived together four seconds behind, with the Swiss winner of March’s Volta a Catalunya holding off Gilbert and Vanendert.